


The Box

by yanderekirklandchan



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Angst, Both Canon Divergant and Canon Compliant (you'll understand if you read it), Everyone lives cus I can't with all the death, Happy Ending, M/M, Newt Lives, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-The Death Cure, Some Spoilers, Suicidal Thoughts, Time Travel, i tried okay, the box
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-12 21:00:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13555494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yanderekirklandchan/pseuds/yanderekirklandchan
Summary: Thomas groaned, his head spinning. He was still but he felt his stomach sinking and his body being pushed down by upward motion. Opening his eyes his vision slowly began to clear. What he saw when it did made ice run through his veins and his body freeze with shock and horror... he was in The Box.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first proper Maze Runner fic so I don't know if I've got the characters or details right but I have tried. This idea has me really interested but I couldn't find any about it so I decided to write one myself. Please give me feedback to tell me if you're interested, how to improve or whatever, comments are always appreciated!

_A boat. A boat that will finally save them._  
 _"WCKD is good."_ The words said firmly by a voice was accompanied by flashes of horrible images and screaming and pain.  
 _Sick, diseased people chasing after the car, desperate screams and oozing bodies, nails clawing at the windows._  
 _Familiar pale arms traced with dark veins, sad brown eyes looking up at him. The same brown eyes but now almost stained red, looking desperate and wild. A gun pressed against matted blonde hair. A blade jutting horrifically out of an unmoving chest._

Thomas gasped awake, panting; disorientated and confused. Where was he? This wasn't where he'd just been, this wasn't the island. Where was Minho? Gally? Anyone?

Thomas groaned, his head spinning. He was still but he felt his stomach sinking and his body being pushed down by upward motion. Opening his eyes his vision slowly began to clear. What he saw when it did made ice run through his veins and his body freeze with shock and horror... he was in The Box.

He stood, as much as the confined space would let him, looking up through the net of metal at the nearing top. Thomas stared, frowning up with an intense look that was a combination of frustration, determination, curiosity and anger. Why was he here? Why couldn't they leave him alone? When would he be allowed to rest, to have peace?

But on top of all that was the bitter determination. He'd given his heart and soul for as long as he can remember. He'd gone through hell and more. Whatever this was, whoever's sick joke this was, whether it was WCKD or someone else he wasn't going to give in or let them win. He was confused, disorientated and plain exhausted but he was not giving up.  
*******  
The large metal doors covering The Box's entry point opened with a metallic whir. A crowd of boys ran to observe the shocking spectacled, a collective feeling of curiosity and panic filling them at the break in the strict routine that had dictated their lives for so long.

Naturally, Alby came to the front, ever the leader as was the role he'd somehow obtained. Newt was faithfully by his side, stance strong, eyes displaying confusion and apprehension.

Thomas, stuck between not wanting to further aggravate his new living-mates and his natural curiosity, lagged slightly behind them; enough to still have a good spectating position. He tried to ignore, for the time being, the fact that he was probably going to be blamed for this, so hopefully it didn't go badly.

Newt and Gally pulled back the metal gates of the box before recoiling with shock. There were various questions of "What do you see?" but they soon died down as everyone got a good look of the boy who seemed just as shocked and suspicious to see them as they were to see him.

"Thomas?" Newt asked, incredulously.

Everyone stares shifted from the boy in The Box to the one standing amoung them.


	2. Time travel?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope I got he characters okay, sorry if they're a bit ooc I promise you I've tried. Here's the first proper chapter! Hope you enjoy reading it and be assured there'll be more again next Friday!

Thomas swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. He’d been expecting… well, he didn’t really know but it definitely wasn’t this. It wasn’t to see so many familiar faces from the past and it certainly wasn’t to see… him. “Thomas?” The very boy who’s presence here shook Thomas to his very core was the one to say it. Shuck, this place was like a ghost town.

Realising everyone was waiting for an answer, Thomas responded “Yeah, it’s me. Thomas…” he couldn’t bring himself to continue, what more was there to say anyway? He didn’t know what on earth was going on and he definitely didn’t know what to do about it.

“I told you all, that slinthead is trouble.” At that, Thomas’ attention was turned to Gally who was glaring around at everyone “If this isn’t proof of that I don’t know what is. I say-”  
“Oh shut up, Gally, if you didn’t get so pissy about everything and learnt to slim it once in a while I think we might actually be friends.” Thomas snapped, his patience already worn so thin after everything that’s happened it had torn in two. That had everyone staring even more perplexed, if that were even possible, down at him. Gally looked to be a cross between affronted and shocked.

After a continued moment of silence, in which Thomas wondered if he’d perhaps been a bit too out of place, Newt moved forward “Well… let’s help him up so we can continue this conversation in a way that isn’t giving me a bloody kink in my neck.” Alby and Newt moved and offered him their hands. Thomas hesitated, recoiling slightly away from the two boys he’d seen die. Not wanting to cause even more of a scene, however, he took the offered hands and climbed out of The Box.

“Thanks.” He muttered, surveying those too familiar walls darkly, walking off. He heard two sets of soft footfall behind him “Hey, where exactly are you going?” Alby asked, his voice laced with suspicion and mistrust, inevitably concerned for the safety of the boy’s who trusted him to protect them. Thomas shrugged “Away from the staring.”  
“Good luck with that, mate, time travellers do tend to draw the eye.” quipped Newt in an amused tone. Thomas froze. Time travel? Evidently so, but was it possible? Could this really be real? It would take a while for him to accept that. Most likely this was a simulation like they put Minho through, maybe WCKD had found him and were extracting the cure from him. Or maybe he’d simply been through too much and had gone insane.

“Okay, come on. Follow me, I think it’s time for some answers.” Alby said sternly, leading the way to somewhere private.  
*******  
:Thomas was left staring after himself, the three boys leaving the rest behind. He was stunned, was that really him? How was that even possible? Granted he had no memories, came from a box in the ground and now lived in an all boys society surrounded by walls that contained terrifying beasts but still he thought that coming across another version of yourself qualified as strange.

He winced when he noticed the deadly glare Gally was sending his way. At least when he’d come up he’d left the offending people to later than minutes into his arrival. Nevertheless, he admired the way he had the bravery to say something like that, and not even flinch! Apparently older him was cool, if apparently suicidal but no one was perfect.

:Thomas was aware of the attention he was gaining but decided to ignore it, he was used to that being the Greenie and all. Thankfully, the crowd dispersed soon enough, the Gladers ever work oriented. Chuck remained by his side “Woah… Thomas, was that really you?” He asked, eyes wide with wonder.  
“I… don’t know. Maybe I have a twin brother that the memory wipe made me forget?”  
Chuck raised an eyebrow “A twin brother who’s also called Thomas?”  
“…Well that’s just as plausible as time travel or cloning or whatever on earth is going on.”  
Chuck shrugged “Fair enough. C’mon, let’s get on with our work, Alby and Newt will deal with it, they always do.”

Thomas frowned but accepted that for now, although he definitely intended to drop by if they were taking ages talking. Besides, he had the right to know what was happening, surely.  
*******  
Two sets of serious, intense brown eyes bore into Thomas from across the table. Alby had decided on the maze room, people knew not to come there so they were less likely to be walked in on. They’d had Thomas sit on a chair, Alby sitting across from him and Newt standing behind him. Once it would have been intimidating, maybe even scary, to be in this position, Thomas mused. But now… after everything that had happened, being stared down by two kind-hearted boys didn’t seem all that frightening.

Thomas stared right back with equal dark intensity, if not more. Quite frankly, he was tired of this, whatever it was. Why couldn’t things in his life just make sense? When he found out who exactly thought it was a funny joke to force him to see all his dead friends he’d have a stern conversation with them that involved no words and quite possibly any convenient implements that happened to be near by.

It gave him a vague sense of what might have been satisfaction at the way the two other boys seemed surprised at his returned look and body language. It didn’t throw them off, however.

“Let’s start off with the basics. And I expect you to answer all these questions truthfully, this place is miserable enough without me making it worse for you, trust me.” Alby started. Thomas had to admire the boy, not just his interrogation skills but in general, he really didn’t deserve to die the way he did.

“What is this? An interrogation? And here I thought we could have a nice civilised discussion.” Huh, he’d never been much of a sarcastic person before. Ever since all the action had ended, Thomas had been noticing he’d been acting a bit differently, Brenda said it was depression or ptsd or something of the sort. People treated him differently too, like they respected and looked up to him but were too afraid to speak to him.

“This will be a civilised discussion if you let it be.” Alby said in a reasonable tone but with a hint of a threat. Thomas wasn’t phased, quite honestly they had every right to be apprehensive of him, it’d be strange if they simply welcomed him into their lives with open arms and smiles. Well, for Alby open arms and smiles full stop was weird. Thomas chuckled to himself, the type you did when remembering a absent friend or a time that’s long past.

Alby scowled “You think this is funny, huh? Let me put this in perspective, you’re a suspicious outsider that is a threat to our society and potentially our lives. Now, it’s my job to do whatever is in my ability to protect those two things, so you’d better take this seriously.”

Thomas raised his arms “Point taken, promise I won’t intentionally do anything against you all. Unintentional I can’t control, sorry. And I’m not an outsider, I came up in The Box like all of you, so what’s with all the weird precautions?”

Newt snickered, causing Thomas to flinch, “He has a point there, Alby.”  
Alby scowled at him but that was all he did, Thomas had never thought much about the strange relationship between Alby and Newt, Alby seemed to have a soft spot for the younger boy. Then again, who didn’t?

“You know very shucking well this isn’t a usual situation. And I don’t like that, system is what sustains our life here. Now, you’ve broken that system, both of the ‘you’s that have been spat up into The Glade. So I think it’s definitely my right and my responsibility to find out what is going on here.”


	3. Audit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for everyone who has read especially if you've commented! It really makes me happy that people like this because I really like this idea and enjoy writing it. Please feel free to write your own 'Thomas time travels back to the Glade' fic because I want to read one that's not my own XD Anyways, hopefully you like this!

“What are you doing here?” Alby demanded, starting the questioning.  
Thomas bit back the urge to say ‘talking to you’ and answered seriously “I don’t know, I woke up in The Box with no recollection of how I got there.”  
Alby didn’t seem happy with that, as if he was expecting him to say ‘I came here by choice to ruin all your lives’ or something like that.

“But you remember your past?” He continued.  
Thomas nodded “I do, I remember being here the first time and everything. But I don’t remember this ever having happened. I’m assuming everything up until now is the same, though. Is Teresa here?”  
“We’re the ones asking the questions here.” Alby scowled at the same time Newt asked “Who’s Teresa?”

Thomas decided that answering Newt would be the most productive “She’s a girl. She came up in The Box the day after me. She has long, dark hair and blue eyes.”  
Newt shook his head “No girls have ever been here and today’s the day after you came, you’re the only person who’s come up. Do you think this is time travel?”

Thomas pursed his lips “I… don’t know what I think. Quite honestly, I don’t believe you’re real.”  
The declaration elicited surprised giggles from Newt, which made Thomas’ heart warm then feel like it was being stabbed when he remembered…

Thankfully, neither of the other boys appeared to have picked up on his dark zoning out and they simply continued. “Well, I assure you, Tommy, we are real. And so are you, for the record, even if you are mysterious. So then it must be time travel, if you are who you say you are.”

Thomas sighed “I suppose so… to be honest, I should stop being surprised. A massive maze that moves and is full of boys? Things are already weird.” As well as zombies, evil scientists and diseases wiping out almost entire populations, Thomas finished in his head. Really, why did the idea that he’d time traveled seem so strange to him? Maybe it was because it was a lot more plausible that he’d gone insane and surely the most likely answer was the correct one.

Apparently Alby had had enough of his and Newt’s side conversation “How do I know you’re not working with the shuck-heads that are responsible for us being here?”  
Thomas’ breath caught slightly at that, feeling guilt spark within him before he viciously beat it back. He wasn’t part of WCKD, in fact he’d do anything to stop them, their sick morals weren’t saving the human race, they were killing it off even faster.

Nevertheless, a traitorous voice within him whispered tauntingly that if he’d complied with WCKD then maybe Newt would still be alive. After all, it was only him they’d needed, even if no one had known it.

Thomas shook of the thoughts, looking Alby directly in the eye as he tried to convey the earnest in his words “I’m not working for them, although I know who they are and what they want. My only priority is the life and wellbeing of all the kids in here and anyone else like them, I have done and will continue to do anything I can to protect each and every one of them from the people keeping us here or from anyone or anything else too.

“You don’t have to trust me, you can put me in The Slammer or push me out into the Maze, to be honest I’m beyond caring anymore. But I swear I only ever wanted to protect you all.” He said, eyes dark and no longer really seeing the two boys in front of him anymore, instead his mind tormented him with the deaths of all the people who had put their faith in him to save them.

The room was in silence, Thomas lost in his mind and the other two boys not quite knowing how to respond to his intense declaration. It remained in silence, that was, until someone else walked into the room.  
*******  
:Thomas walked up to the Maze room with determination. He was just as much a part of this as his older self and he deserved to be treated as such. He was tired of being excluded all the time! How could anyone bare constantly living in the dark like this? No one seemed to want to tell him anything in this crazy place and he was getting sick and tired of it. It was like they’d all made him the enemy, what had he done?

It wasn’t until he’d barged into the room that :Thomas started to second guess his quest on finding out what was going on. Sure, he definitely had the right to know, he was still certain of that. But he’d apparently just disrupted an important looking conversation and now three intense gazes were completely focused on him.

He swallowed, nervously, “I-I,” he started before steeling himself. He had every right to be there and the feeling like he was a child who’d just been caught sneaking downstairs past his bedtime was ridiculous. “I came to hear what you’re talking about. Since I’m in the centre of this, as everyone seems to be set on pointing out, I deserve to at least know what’s going on.”

He was slightly encouraged by Newt’s impressed look and tried not to flinch at Alby’s scowl. “Well in case you haven’t noticed, no one knows what’s going on. And if you would serve a purpose here then I would have brought you, I won’t have boys doing whatever they want wherever they want, we have rules and they’re there for a reason.” :Thomas tried very hard not to look like a kicked puppy at Alby’s words.

“Actually, I think he’s right. If you want to talk to me that includes us both and whatever differences we have could also prove to be useful in working this out.” Thomas said earnestly adding a ‘sir’ on the end when Alby looked less than pleased at being contradicted.

:Thomas looked at his older self, which was a very weird sensation, in surprise. It being himself, he could see all the differences and it was plain strange. He was right with his first impression that this other him was pretty badass, the way he held himself, the way he talked, but he didn’t feel envious because as well as the causal-cool confidence there was also a darkness and a pain which was on a whole new level even to Alby and Newt who he’d always thought had rather haunted looks from whatever they’d gone through in the Glade long before he’d arrived.The thought that anyone, let alone him, would go through something worse than what could happen in the Glade made :Thomas shiver, more than a little freaked out.

“Well, I suppose since you’re here you might as well stay, although I don’t really know how much more use we’ll have of this since not a single one of us has a bloody clue what’s going on.” Newt said, giving :Thomas a smile which made all his anxiety rush away. Newt was good at that, he was kind but serious, caring but to the point. Really, as strange as it sounded talking about a boy he’d known for a day and although it made him blush, :Thomas had to say that Newt just seemed… perfect.

Tearing his eyes away from Newt’s with embarrassment, blushing at his own thoughts, :Thomas’ eyes ended up flickering to his other self and he shivered. The boy had apparently been watching his and Newt’s exchange, eyes flicking between the two of them with a closed off look that :Thomas couldn’t read.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Thomas must be so lonely ;-; he deserves love, both of them XD and I intend to give it to them! Please comment what you think because it's always appreciated lots. Well, until next week, byee!


	4. Nothing and No One

:Thomas closed his eyes, sighing as he let the fresh air against his face clear his head and the headache that had been threatening to set in. He’d wanted to know what was going on, and that’d never change he did not like or think it was fair to be left out, but that’d been pretty boring. Alby and Newt were right, nobody seemed to know anything. They’d talked for quite a while though, wanting to get every base covered. Overall, the main thing they’d established was that Thomas and his own lives were the same.

Up until the ‘time travel’ at least. That’s what they’d taken to calling it. Newt seemed convinced, Alby seemed suspicious but was going along with it and Thomas kept nodding whenever it was due but to :Thomas it seemed like he didn’t quite believe it, sort of like when you realised you were dreaming but couldn’t wake up. :Thomas… well, he didn’t know what to think really. This was bizarre, he couldn’t remember he past but he was pretty sure this wasn’t normal. Still, like everything else that was going on he could do little more than simply go along with it.

Like most meetings in general, he thought at least, there was lots of talking, little established and he was left tired with his head spinning. On the plus side he’d gotten out of doing work and if he hadn’t been included he knew he would have been driven crazy all day thinking about what they might be talking about. At any cost, he was glad to be going to get something to eat then going to bed.

It was little surprise to :Thomas when Chuck waved him over excitedly to the table he was sitting at “Hey, Thomas, I haven’t seen you all day! Is it true that you barged into the meeting with Alby, Newt and, erm, …you.” The younger boy queried, not quite sure how to word the last part.  
Thomas smiled at the boy who sometimes felt like his only friend here “Yeah… although ‘barged in’ is dramatic, I should have been invited in the first place.”  
Chuck rolled his eyes “Whatever you say, shank.”

The pair continued to talk, conversation moving away from potentially evil twins or time travellers and onto thankfully more normal topics. They were joined by other boys too and dinner was eaten in relative peace, conversation light and humorous with everyone too concentrated on their food to get into fights.

That sense of calm and normalcy disappeared, however, with the arrival of Thomas. Everyone stared with varying degrees of openness, each very curious about the newest arrival to the Glade. Some looked suspicious, some looked scared, some looked merely interested. :Thomas shrunk back slightly at the feeling of many gazes upon him. Of course, most people were looking at ‘Thomas from the future’ but hand in hand with that came curiosity and mistrust of him to.

Thomas looked around the room with those dark, surveying eyes before apparently deciding he’d already had enough and left straight back out the way he came, which only seemed to spike people’s attention more. Chuck blinked “Well that was weird.”

“Not one for attention, then.” Clint quipped.  
“Nah, I think it was the smell of Frypan’s food that scared him away.” Zart chuckled earning a whack on the back of his head by some kitchen utensil of sorts “If you don’t like my food then maybe I shouldn’t give you any.” Said a disgruntled Frypan.  
Zart looked down “Sorry…” he mumbled.  
Chuck giggled to Thomas “Never mess with the person providing the food.”

They all looked up at a scuffling sound and mumbled voices before Thomas was pushed back into the room by an annoyed looking Alby and an amused Newt. “I told you, shank, I’m not letting you wonder around unattended, we might have come to the decision that you’re not a threat but I still don’t trust you.” The conversation drifted over to their ears, each boy silent and straining to hear what was being said.  
“Yeah, that and you’re a bloody stick insect, you could use some food.” Chimed Newt, chuckling as he walked in behind the two.

Thomas gave Newt a small smile, eyes filled with some intense emotion that :Thomas couldn’t name, it was certainly more tender and soft than the storm-cloud like look he seemed to have a lot. Then, as if a switch had been flicked, Thomas abruptly turned away from Newt, walking to the corner table away from everyone else in an area that no one really tended to sit. Alby seemed unimpressed but reluctantly followed him as Newt straight away went to sit by Thomas.

:Thomas frowned slightly. He wasn’t jealous exactly but… okay so maybe a little. He was the same person so why did everyone give all the good attention to Thomas and the bad attention to him? Also, Newt always sat with him for meals and spent his free time with him. It was completely stupid to feel this way because he was talking about being jealous of himself here.

But it was like being replaced like someone that was like you but better except on a whole other level. He huffed to himself, dismissing those thoughts and if he’d eaten the rest of his meal a little more aggressively than normal no one commented.  
*******  
Thomas pointedly ignored the stares he was getting from the rest of the room, picking slowly at the plate in front of him instead. He didn’t understand why Newt had followed him here, he was eating and people could keep an eye on him incase he tried something. Actually, that was a lie, he knew exactly why newt had followed him; because he was just that much of an amazing person, because he couldn’t stand to see people alone and upset and he always went to cheer people up like a day of sunshine except far better.

Thomas sighed, he wished he’d just been left alone while everyone else ate. Then he could have done laps around the Glade or something instead of being here in a place where every face held a memory of hardship, gruesome death and the few that reminded him about where he was supposed to be right now instead of in the Glade.

The sight of Newt hurt the most. It hurt so bad he could barely take it; he just wanted to collapse on the floor and scream to the sky at the unfairness of it all. They’d found the cure. They’d found the damn fucking cure, Newt could have lived. If they’d held on just a bit longer he’d be alive. He’d killed him, on so many levels it was Thomas who’d taken Newt’s life.

He’d been so sure that he must fight WCKD but if he’d given in then Newt and so many others would be alive, this was on his hands. It was so shucking unfair, of all people why Newt? The most kind, caring, innocent of them all? It made Thomas’ blood boil and his lungs almost give up breathing with grief.

And there was Newt in front of him, healthy and smiling at him, making conversation and trying to comfort his murderer? Thomas was trembling with despair. Shuck, if anyone left him alone with a knife he’d… but that wasn’t about to happen any time soon, Alby didn’t appear to trust him.

But still, now the idea had sprouted in his mind. He had no one anymore, he was literally in a different time. Before he couldn’t have done anything because he was bound by the responsibility of looking after an entire island of people who looked to him for guidance. And now he didn’t want to make a mess or cause trouble or grievances with these boys but… But now he had nothing and no one he could actually theoretically kill himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That got darker than I expected it to be. Don't worry there'll be a happy ending for our poor babies! XD hope you like the chapter, I'll be posting weekly. Please comment with feedback! Thank you for reading <3


	5. Night Terror

“Alright, well, normally I’d give the responsibility of showing you to your place to sleep to the last greenie but I don’t think that’s work for quite a few reasons. One being, the last greenie’s only been here a day, another is that you’re not exactly new anyway, also the last greenie is you and most importantly we don’t actually have a place for you to sleep.” Newt admitted sheepishly.

He and Thomas were walking through the now dark Glade, the few people around them were finishing off what they were doing or making their way to bed. “We weren’t exactly expecting anyone new so early.” Newt explained apologetically.

Thomas nodded “Understandable. It’s okay, I don’t mind sleeping rough.” He left unsaid the fact that he didn’t expect to do much sleeping at all. Newt pursed his lips “Are you sure? You can take my space, you look like you need sleep more than I do.”  
Thomas waved the thought off “No, I won’t let you do that. I’ll be fine, really.”  
“Well, if you’re sure.” Newt agreed hesitantly. Thomas flashed him an assuring smile, hoping to ease the boy’s conscience.

Newt sighed “Okay then,” he said, continuing to walk towards a conglomeration of people and stuff, his limp prominent to Thomas’ eyes “Follow me. I know it’s unusual for a newbie to sleep near me and Alby but he wants to keep an eye on you, in case you bloody stab us all in our sleep or something. I swear, he’s not normally like this, you’ve just got him shaken up a bit. He’ll warm to you soon when he sees that you mean no harm.” Newt insisted.

Thomas regarded the boy beside him “You seem pretty certain I’m no danger.”  
Newt looked at him with something of surprise “Yeah.” He replied simply.  
Thomas blinked, taken aback by his conviction “But, why? I’m a complete stranger, a suspicious and probably intimidating, ominous looking one, everyone else seems suspicious of me, why don’t you?”

Newt shrugged “I don’t know… you just seem trustworthy and responsible, like…” he hesitated, looking intensely into Thomas’ eyes “Like I could trust you with my life, with my eyes closed and you’d protect me.” He shrugged again, the serious tone diminishing “Then again, maybe that’s just my general disregard for my personal safety.”

Thomas was rather shaken by the earnest confession. He shook himself before deciding to change the subject “So… Alby. You two seem pretty tight.”  
Newt nodded “Yeah, he’s been there for me, well, literally for as long as I can remember. I know I suppose I’ve been here for as long as some other people can remember but it was different back then, when it was so few of us.

“Everyone, but especially him, is all the family I have. Alby sort of took me under his wing like a combination of a little brother and a son, even though I’m only a bloody bit younger than him. And it’s more than that too… like even from before he’s been there for me, even though I can’t remember it.” Newt had a glazed look, like he was miles away in his mind.

Thomas felt intense sympathy and loss for his friend, he’d never properly processed how much Alby’s loss would have impacted the other boys who’d known him longer. He felt intense sympathy and loss on the part of his friend, even though the boy beside him hadn’t suffered it. It was then that Thomas silently vowed that he would save each and every one of these boys from the horrors that fate had in store for them.

Eventually, the pair reached the sleeping area, having finished the walk in silence, both too lost in their thoughts to socialise. Newt cleared a space on the floor for Thomas, giving him a generous amount of blankets and pillows to make up for the rough set up, apologising profoundly several times until Thomas managed to convince him it was okay. Finally, with a last apology, Newt retreated to sleep himself, leaving Thomas to his privacy.

Thomas arranged the blankets beneath and above him, he’d been honest when he’d told Newt he didn’t mind this. Really, compared to some of the set ups he’d slept in recently this was a five star experience. Thomas lay down hesitantly. He was very tired and his body begged him to let it sleep but… he didn’t think he had the strength to face the nightmares and he certainly didn’t want to wake up everyone else by screaming. Despite his trepidation, Thomas soon drifted into sleep.  
*******  
:Thomas woke with a start, body in panic, attack mode at the sound of someone screaming. It seemed like he wasn’t the only one, plenary of boys were sleeping soundly despite the desperate cries but there were at least half of the Glade’s inhabitants walking dazedly from their beds, attempting to find the source of the screams or what was causing them.

:Thomas looked to his side where Chuck was snoring softly, a peaceful expression on his face, and decided not to wake him. He’d come back for the boy if he found out that there was danger. In the mean time, he stared to run in the direction of the screams.

He could tell he’d found the right place when he saw a circle of people around one figure who was on the floor thrashing, screaming and struggling. Newt was next to the figure, apparently attempting to calm down but received a punch to the jaw for his troubles. Everyone, including :Thomas, instantly attempted to help the boy but Newt shook them off, saying it was nothing.

:Thomas frowned, pushing forward to see what on earth was going on. He was stunned still when he saw the full scene. It was him, or Thomas from the future, on the floor, eyes glazed with sleep and wide with panic, almost manic. Sweat was glistening in a sheen on his skin, his whole demeanour looking like a wounded, cornered predator about to be killed. He looked terrified.

It was strange really. Seeing such a thing at all as well as it being your own face, your own body displaying it. :Thomas went sort of numb at the sight, perhaps it was too much for his brain to process, he was pretty sure they weren’t made to deal with situations like this.

Instead of the events in front of him, :Thomas’ mind wondered to how he was envious, jealous even, of his other self earlier, when Newt had taken him to sleep next to him. But now he could not feel envy, he felt pure, desperate relief that he never felt that scared, that he’d never been through whatever extent of horrors it took to do that to a person. He also felt bitter pity for the boy who had.  
*******  
Thomas screamed because it was all he could do. He screamed in terror at the intense fear for his own safety and of those he loved, in fear of the impending doom: the end of the world. He screamed in horror at the sights so horrid that they’d burned an imprint into him, like a scalding iron rod. He screamed in grief over all that was lost. He screamed because he was in agony, mentally and physically, he couldn’t take any more but it wasn’t stopping and all he could do was scream.

Someone was grabbing him, it was a crank. No, it was Janson, dragging him away to be tortured for information and experimented on. No, it was a crank again, inhuman, unseeing, utterly horrifying. Thomas didn’t know who or what it was but he knew he had to run, it would kill him. That didn’t matter in itself but he needed to save the others. They were waiting, he needed to… no! It couldn’t get him! He fought back desperately, wild with fear.

He lashed out with his fist and heard a cry of pain. He recognised that voice… Newt. Thomas paled as images of Newt flashed before him. Newt infected, Newt bleeding. Newt dying, no! He couldn’t let him! He had to save him! He had to…

The images slowly faded away, reality solidifying before him. Thomas slumped to the floor, his energy drained from him. He lay panting, eyes wide, as he observed the scene before him, the faces of many concerned, frightened looking boys staring down at him. Great, so much for laying low and blending in, nearly half the Glade was here surely.

When his eyes landed on Newt he felt a harsh stab of guilt, and for once it really was for this version of his friend not the memory of the other. There was a painful looking red mark on his jaw, which the boy was rubbing tenderly, wincing slightly as he looked down in concern. Thomas tried to swallow but his throat was dry and the motion was only painful. Shuck, he seriously had a problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Thomas! And poor Newt. They should hug it out. Or kiss it out, I'm not picky XD Anyways! Thank you so much for reading another chapter! Did you like it? Did you hate it? Did you wish it had more nudity? Tell me what you think in the comments! Until next week :3


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